That Darn Feeling
by Braelyn Rae
Summary: A familiar feeling returns and soon Meredith's life is on the line as she is abducted and thrown into a world of chaos. Derek/Meredith. Lots of drama, adventure, and comfort. Set anytime before the season finale. COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

Title: That Darn Feeling

Summary: A familiar feeling returns and soon Meredith's life is on the line as she is abducted and thrown into a world of chaos. Derek/Meredith. Lots of drama, adventure, and comfort. Set anytime before the season finale.

Rating: T, or PG-13 for minor cursing, intense scenes, and mention of blood and alcohol.

Disclaimer: I in no way have anything to do with Grey's Anatomy. I also do not have a degree in any sort of the medical field, so all references to such may not be accurate and should not be attempted.

* * *

It was a normal day, raining, cold, and slightly breezing. Normal. Seattle Grace Hospital was normal too, alive with accidents and sicknesses around every corner. Everyone seemed normal, everything seemed normal, but something definitely was not normal. Derek Shepherd knew this, though he did not know why. It was a chilling feeling that he couldn't put his finger on. A feeling… now he was sounding like Meredith. Shaking his head, he decided to ignore these newfound 'feelings'.

He stepped off the elevator, almost surprised he hadn't bumped into Meredith Grey, his sticky-note wife. The two of them were like magnets—drawn to the elevator at the same time. Funny how many coincidences the pair of them lived with.

Derek had a busy day, now that was normal. Back-to-back surgeries, yes, that was very normal.

"Have you seen Meredith?" Cristina Yang's voice slipped through his mind before he even saw her approaching him. "An idiot let his friend use his face as a dart board! Actual darts! One's stuck in his eye…"

"I don't know," the Neurosurgeon responded. "She was on-call last night, she may be sleeping."

Cristina looked flabbergasted. "How could she sleep during this? If you see her, fill her in, okay?" She didn't wait for confirmation before dashing into the elevator, way to eager in the early morning for his taste.

"Will do," he muttered to himself as he headed towards the on-call room, knowing Meredith would be mad if she slept through the only exciting case of the week. Much to his surprise, Meredith wasn't there. The page must have woken her up, she was probably already on her way.

* * *

Derek wasn't the only one that morning to wake up with a feeling. But unfortunately for her, this was a feeling she had experienced before, a feeling that left very dire consequences in its wake. It was _not _a good feeling to say the least, but that feeling was the only reason she was where she was. It was the only reason she had been sitting here for hours, and it was the only reason that Derek grew worried of her missing presence that he managed to find her… here.

Meredith Grey, the one used to the feelings, sat in the third row pew in the hospital's chapel, with Derek Shepherd, not used to the feelings, hurrying to her side.

"Meredith!" His voice was filled with concern and confusion. He draped his arm over her shoulders and pulled her close. He looked at her, as though he expected tears, sadness, some expression on her face that would explain it all. She stared back at his searching eyes with her stone, cold ones. "What's wrong? What happened?"

"I'm fine." She blurted on autopilot. "I'm fine."

Derek didn't look convinced. "You're fine?" He asked, to which she responded with a nod. "What happened?"

"Nothing." It was a simple response, definitely not what he wanted to hear.

"Nothing?" He echoed. "What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on."

"Why are you here?"

Now Meredith hesitated, taking time to blink and bite her lip slightly. "I don't know." He looked confused and ready to do every medical test in the book. "I had a feeling. I don't know why I'm here, but I had a feeling. Again."

"A feeling?" He didn't seem convinced.

She nodded. "Yes, a feeling. I had… I have a feeling. And this feeling… this feeling I've had before… and before when I had it, something bad happened." She knew her words would confuse him, but she didn't expect him to pull her closer.

"What feeling are you… feeling?" He seemed to have a hard time with the words, maybe because it sounded like a cheesy romance movie.

Meredith took a breath in. "Like something bad is going to happen." She told, supplying only half the truth at first. "Like I'm going to die."

"What?" Derek's eyes widened in alarm.

She couldn't look at him anymore, she had to turn away. Her eyes fell upon the carved image of Jesus on the cross. She swallowed.

"Meredith…" He seemed unable to form words correctly, or he didn't know what to say, probably the latter. "Why didn't you tell me?"

She shrugged. She didn't know.

"Meredith," he was using her name a lot. "Mer…"

She decided to save him. "I thought that if I was here, that nothing would happen." She realized the truth for herself as she spoke. "Before when I had this feeling, I made it reality. I'm not making it reality this time. I have you. I don't want it to be reality."

She knew that he knew her well enough to know that her repetitive, simple answers usually meant there was more than she was telling. He stared at her, his eyes burning into her skull—she didn't see them, but she could feel them.

"Okay, fine, I'm not fine, I'm not okay. I'm scared, Derek. I don't want to blow up, or drown, or anything." Her lips and voice involuntarily quivered as she spoke.

He nodded, pulling a piece of her hair from her face. "I know."

She was glad that he didn't tease her about her feelings. She was glad that he understood her, but mostly she was glad that he was here, now.

They sat in silence for a moment, a moment that seemed like an hour. The silence soon became deafening and she couldn't take it any longer. "What?"

"What what?"

"What are you thinking?" She demanded to know, now the one searching for answers.

Derek's jaw tightened slightly. "You stay with me." He ordered rather than suggested or asked. "You're staying with me all day. I'll be with you. I won't let anything happen to you."

She knew he wouldn't, she trusted him. "I can't. You have surgeries, and I have patients."

"You can hand them off to someone. You're not leaving my side today, Meredith. No more close calls, no more."

Meredith hesitated to agree. She knew she was being stupid. She couldn't hide from the feeling forever. It would continue to lurk behind the corner, ready to attack. She realized how stupid she was being. A feeling was nothing. It couldn't pull a gun on her, it couldn't collapse a roof on top of her, it couldn't do anything—it was just a feeling. Feelings were just feelings, nothing that should control your life.

"No," she said as she shook her head, "no I can't."

He knew her well enough not to compromise. "Fine, but Cristina's staying at your side at all times." But he also knew that she would want him to know she was safe.

"Fine." She gave in. "But if some emergency happens, I make no promises."

The look he gave her told her more than words—that was exactly was he was worried about.

"I'll be fine." Meredith reassured, placing her hand in his. "I will be fine."

Derek nodded. "Yes you will be. We'll make sure of that."

* * *

That's all for now, folks. The next chapter will be up shortly, though reviews always speed up that process. ;)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Wow, thank you all for your lovely reviews. Enjoy!

* * *

Fine. That's exactly what she was—fine. The word was so overused she wasn't sure she even knew the definition of it anymore. She tossed it around so carelessly to Derek as he texted and called her every twenty-three minutes, and then to Cristina, who would _casually _bring it up in the best way she knew how every so often. Yes, fine, that was her.

She made it to lunch. She was alive. She hadn't had any near-death experiences. She was _fine_.

"Meredith… _Mer_?" Cristina's voice called to her, snapping her out of her trance of fineness.

"I'm fine," Meredith automatically responded, eyeing Cristina from across the table.

"You haven't touched your salad."

Meredith looked down, the mere possibility of glass between the green leafs sent a shudder down her spine. Would she die from her insides getting chopped up? "I'm not really hungry…"

Cristina, ever the comforter, reached for the plate and started on the salad. She looked at Meredith's face and shrugged. "What? Why let it go to waste?"

Meredith shook her head slightly, a smile finding its way to her face.

"Besides, I highly doubt you're going to die from starvation, I'm pretty sure that takes a while."

Yes, ever the comforter. "You think I'm being ridiculous."

Cristina paused, then calmly laid down her fork and folded her hands. "Mer, last time you had this feeling I gave you my, well, my pep talk to get you out of bed. You got blown up. You could have died. I don't think you're being ridiculous." That was it; she picked up the fork and shoved some greens into her mouth.

"Thank you." Only in her mind would Cristina's words be of comfort. Her phone vibrated in her pocket. She picked it up and read her text. "Do you think if I 'forgot' to text him back he'd freak?"

"I think he'd lock down the entire hospital until he found you."

"Yeah…" Meredith said with a smile, quickly texting back her husband. "He loves me."

Cristina rolled her eyes at the love gooiness. "Whatever. Let's find us another case, since Evil Sperm stole our last one."

* * *

"Get out of the way!" Meredith Grey hollered as she followed the EMT's pushing a gurney through the doors of the ER. "Make a hole!"

The young male on the gurney began coughing profusely, blood spilling from his mouth as they parked him in a corner of the crowded room. "Can't… breathe…"

Meredith applied a handful of gauze onto the man's stomach. "It's okay, you're going to be fine. We're going to help you." She reached for more gauze to replace the now bloodstained ones. "I need you to stay with me, okay? Tell me what happened."

His dark brown, chocolate eyes, matching his skin, opened wide as a surge of pain hit him. "It was an accident." He responded through gritted teeth.

"You sure?" Meredith questioned, eyeing dubiously the dozen of knife wounds that sprayed across his body.

The boy nodded. "Yeah dude," he said between breaths, "of course."

Meredith wanted to roll her eyes, but Cristina came over before she could say anything else. "Hey, Cristina, can you stay with him for a minute? I need—"

"Yeah, yeah," Cristina responded quickly, anxious for a case herself. "Take your time."

"Thanks," Meredith said, peeling off her gloves and disposing them. She didn't take two steps before she bumped into a hooded figure. "Oh! Sorry!"

"Are you a doctor?" It was a male's voice, sounding nervous and unsure. She couldn't make out his face as he towered over her, his face shadowed by his hood.

Something shot through Meredith's body, an impulse telling her to run. She ignored it, and nodded in reply. "Yes, I am. Do you need a doctor?"

"Yes, my friend… he's… he's… he's outside. Please, you have to help me."

Meredith looked around, looking for someone to assign to his friend. "Well, I-" She didn't have time to say anything else as the man stepped behind her and she suddenly felt a sharp pain to her lower back.

"Do as I say," the voice didn't seem as nervous now, it spoke with a sort of authority. "Do as I say or I'll kill you."

Her heart felt like it stopped. She couldn't breathe. She was frozen. She wanted to turn around, to call for help, but her slightest movement sent the knife slicing through her scrubs easily, the blade touching her bare skin. She didn't move. Her heart, now working again, started beating twice its normal rhythm.

"Okay, good." The man's praise was laced with sarcasm. "Now we're going to walk out of this hospital, do you understand?" He leaned his head right next her, whispering in her ear. "You are not going to say anything, you're not gong to gesture anything, and you're going to do exactly as I say."

Meredith nodded unsteadily. "I understand." Her voice was weak, pathetic even.

"Okay, move."

They took their steps slowly and carefully, the knife staying steady. Meredith kept her head up, keeping her eyes on the doors. Thoughts passed through her head so quickly she could barely keep up with them. What was going on? What did he want from her? She didn't want to die. Then all of the sudden one word caused her to halt. One word, said by one man. That was enough for the blade to slide through her skin. She gasped.

"Meredith…"

The pain barely registered as she recognized the voice. It was Derek, he was looking for her, he was going to save her. He had promised.

"Keep moving," another voice, not as pleasant, hissed in her ear.

She shuffled her feet slowly, wanting to be in earshot of her savior.

"Faster!" It wasn't a whisper anymore.

"Meredith?" Derek's voice filled with confusion, and coming closer.

Meredith held her breath, for fear she would speak. She let the man practically pull her through the doors of the ER. She strained her ears to hear footsteps walking faster, jogging, now running. She prayed it was him.

The man with the knife pulled her to the side of the building, where a van was parked, its side door opened wide. "Get it!" He threw her inside, her body colliding with the hard, cold metal. The man jumped beside her and slammed the door shut. "Go, go, go!"

The van started with a screech and zoomed out of the parking lot. Meredith lifted herself up in time to see Derek's face as he ran toward the moving vehicle that was now so very far away. His mouth was moving— he was calling her name. She pounded on the window with her tiny fists pitifully. "DEREK!" Tears now slid from her eyes, she didn't remember when she started crying. "DER—!" She stopped short as a familiar blade was pushed to her throat.

* * *

Derek ran. He ran and he ran. Breathing was no longer an option as his mind was working hard to catch up with his demanding legs that it could no longer multi-task. The van was fading into traffic, he could barely keep his eyes on it, but he ran away. Every muscle in his body hurt screamed at him to stop until eventually he had to. He held his gaze onto the truck until it turned a corner at rapid speed, disappearing from sight.

He collapsed to his knees, trying to catch his breath. Derek's hands shook vigorously as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, dialing the three-digit number. A voice spoke to him on the other end, a calm woman's voice. "I-I… I uh," he tried to breathe normally, swallowing salvia down his dry, burning throat. "I think my wife was just kidnapped."

* * *

And that's all for now. Reviews will speed the next chapter along. :)


	3. Chapter 3

Sooooo sorry about the delay! I was filming a couple episodes of NBC's new TV show "The Event", so things got a little crazy. Anyways, I hope to keep updating regularly, but my college classes start Tuesday, so we'll see.

* * *

Her abductor pulled the blade away from her skin as she quieted down; the only sounds escaping her lips were a few unintentional whimpers.

"Now, jus' stay quiet and do as I say an' you'll be fine." The guy closed his pocketknife and shoved it into his jean pockets. His hood had slipped off his close-shaved head, revealing his face. He looked no older than sixteen, though his muscular frame suggested a few years older. He looked around the vehicle nervously, licking his dry lips.

"What do you want from me?" Despite her best attempt, Meredith's voice quivered and her fear was laced within her words. She felt small, weak.

"You." He said simply, sending shivers down her spine at the sheer possibilities. He rolled up his sleeves, and for the first time she noticed the blood on his hands.

"Are you hurt?"

He shook his head then wiped his nose with his arm, pointing at the rear of the moving van. "Nah, he is, man. He needs your help."

Meredith hesitated to take her eyes off the boy before her, for fear of what he would do. But curiosity got the better of her and she turned her head and caught sight of a kid curled up in a fetal position. He was whimpering, and she wondered why she hadn't heard him sooner. She cast a glance at her abductor again before she scooted across the floor, wincing as she applied pressure to her banged up wrist.

"Can you help 'im?"

Meredith reached for the kid, probably the same age as her abductor. Her hand felt something thick and sticky, she identified it immediately as blood. "Can you turn on the light?"

"It's busted," the boy responded. "But I think we've got a flashlight 'round here somewhere. Yo, TJ, you got a light?"

The driver, or apparently TJ, turned his head towards them, the van swerving across the road as he did. "Dude! No names! She'll tell 'em cops!" He slammed his fists on the steering wheel in frustration. "Shit!"

The boy hung his head. "Sorry man," he apologized. "Do you have a flashlight? The doc needs one."

TJ sighed in irritation as he reached over into the glove box, fishing out the object.

Somehow the boy's lack of professionalism seemed to relax Meredith. Neither seemed to know what they were doing. That was a good thing, wasn't it?

"Here." TJ tossed the light into the backseat, then her abductor handed it to her.

"Thanks," she said without thinking. What the heck? Thanking her kidnappers? She shook it off and turned on the LED light, shining it on the wounded kid. It was worse than she first thought. His body resembled that of the kid she had seen earlier that night in the hospital. Knife wounds pierced his stomach that was now completely covered in blood. Too much blood.

"Well?"

She looked at him. "You have to take me back to the hospital. This boy needs help that I can't give him."

"Yes you can. You's a doctor, ain't ya?"

"Yes I am," she confirmed, her voice no longer weak and quivering. "But I can't do anything in a van. I don't have any medical supplies or equipment."

The boy looked unsure what to say. "We got some towels 'round here somewheres…"

"You don't understand; he needs blood. He needs stitches. We need to make sure no vital organs were disturbed. Please, you have to take us back."

"No!" TJ hollered from the drivers seat. "We ain't goin' back. We ain't goin' to jail."

Meredith shook her head. "I won't say anything, I promise. You can just drop the two of us off; I promise he'll have the best care available. I'll stay with him the whole time."

"You think we're stupid?" TJ asked. "If we take you back, the cops will be all over Oli—… him. They'll send him back to juvie. No, we ain't doin' that. You want to go free, you save him. Ya hear me? You save him."

Her heart rhythm sped up again as she realized the impossible scenario she was in. She took the old abandoned, smelly towels her abductor handed her and stripped off her labcoat, instantly staining it as she applied it to the now screaming boy's torso. "If you won't take me back you have to at least get me something to work with. He's going to bleed through this coat and those towels will give him an infection. I need to stitch him up, now."

TJ, who Meredith had no doubt was the leader in all this, nodded his head. "You tell us what we need and we'll get it for ya."

"You're going to steal supplies from a hospital?" The doctor asked, hope rising within her.

"Naw," the other kid said with a slight smirk. "We're gunna jack a gas station."

* * *

"You said you got a look at the license plate?"

Derek nodded at the police officer. "Yeah, it started with Z83 and I think it ended with a 4." He ran his fingers through his hair nervously. "Please, you have to find them, they have my wife."

"And you're sure she was kidnapped?" The cop looked up from his notepad, quizzical.

"Yes! I've told you all this three times! They pushed her into a van and drove away. What more do you want from me? Call it in and find my wife!"

The cop held his hands up in surrender. "We're just trying to get all the facts, sir. The more information we have on these guys, the better chance we have of finding your wife."

"Just do it already! I told you everything I know!"

"Derek?" Cristina hurried over to his side, looking alarmed. "What's wrong? Do we have a case? Where's Meredith? She dumped her patient on me and left. Did she—"

Derek took a moment to calm himself down. He would be no use to Meredith the way he was. "Meredith was kidnapped, Cristina."

"What?" The doctor asked in disbelief. "Mer?"

"Yes. I don't know why, I don't know by whom, they just threw her in a van."

"When?"

Derek glanced at his watched. "Twenty-nine minutes ago."

Cristina turned towards the police officer, who was speaking into his radio. "Why the hell aren't you out there looking for her?"

The cop turned his back to her as he continued talking into the radio. He let them know what was going on and asked for backup before turning back to them. "We'll need to see the security tapes you all got."

"Yes, of course, anything we can do."

* * *

Thank you for reading. Please review. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Hey all! Sorry I took so long to update, I won't bother you with excuses. ;)

* * *

Meredith's small frame nearly did a summersault as the car pulled to an abrupt stop. She managed to push herself back into a sitting position and glanced out the tinted window. They must have found a gas station.

"You wait here, I'll be right back." TJ said as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Sure thing, man."

TJ got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind him. Meredith flinched at the sudden noise. Her nerves were on high alert.

The wounded kid, who hadn't said a word, all of the sudden began to cry.

Meredith's eyes widened. It suddenly didn't matter if she had been pushed into a car at knifepoint. There was a child here, someone's kid; she needed to help him as best she could. So for whatever crazy reason, maybe it was a pre-maternal thing, she tried to comfort him. "Hey, you're going to be okay. Alright? I'm going to help you."

The boy nodded, sniffling. "Promise?"

She hesitated. "I promise."

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the sound of a gunshot sliced through the silent night air. Meredith nearly jumped out of her skin as she twisted her head to find its source. Two seconds later, TJ threw open the door and jumped onto his seat, throwing the supplies in the back.

"Here." He muttered between gritted teeth as he put the keys into the ignition and sped away.

"What the hell happened?" Meredith demanded to know. "Did you kill someone?"

"Don't matter." TJ responded, accelerating.

"It doesn't matter?" Meredith repeated in disbelief. "You killed somebody! You didn't have to do that! You—"

"Shut up!" TJ shouted, his eyes looking at her through the review mirror. "Wes, deal with her."

Her abductor looked up, alarmed. "Man, I thought we weren't—"

"Forget about it. It doesn't matter now. She knows too much."

Meredith swallowed. She realized her slight chance of getting out of here alive had just gone down the drain the moment TJ fired that gun. She was going to die; there was no doubt about it. They wouldn't keep any witnesses.

'Wes' kicked the bag of supplies her way. "Here, we got what you need. Now help him."

She wanted to refuse. It was pointless. She was going to die anyways, why should she help? But somewhere inside of her she knew would not and could not let a boy die without trying to save him. She grabbed the plastic bag and dug through it, pulling out the disposable gloves, she slipped a pair on.

"Did you get everything?"

"Yeah, gloves, gauze, sewing kit, vodka, Advil, and bandages…" TJ listed off.

She nodded. "Good, good. Now, Wes, I'm going to need you to hold this flashlight up like this so I can see what I'm doing, okay?"

Wes took the light from her and did as he was told.

Meredith removed her soiled lab coat and quickly tried to soak up the blood with the gauze. The young man screamed in protest. She then opened the bottle of vodka and winced to herself. "I'm sorry, but this is really going to hurt… a lot."

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"It's just about… there! Right there! Can you see it?"

Officer Beaumont leaned closer to the small TV screen and squinted his brown eyes, as thought it helped him to focus. "Can ya zoom it in a bit and enhance the image?"

"This is a hospital, we're not the FBI, we don't have that sort of equipment." Derek responded, annoyed. " But I think we have another angle we could look at so we can have a better view."

"Alrighty, let's take a look."

Derek nodded for the security guard to play the next video, this time the face of his wife could be seen clearly as a man led her towards the van, no doubt at gunpoint, and then ruthlessly pushed her inside and drove away. He had to turn away from the screen, it was hard enough watching them escape the first time; he didn't need to see that again.

"Is that a good enough shot for you?" Cristina's snarky voice asked as the clip finished playing.

The officer nodded. "Yes ma'am, the sooner you get that over to our department the better it is for your friend."

"We'll do that," Derek assured. "In the meantime, when—"

He was cut off by Officer Beaumont's radio, which spoke words that sounded more like a foreign language.

"I'm sorry," the cop apologized. "I'll be right back."

As soon as he left Cristina looked at Derek. "Derek, come on, we should be out there looking for her. Between us and the cops we'll have a better—"

"Really? You think we can find one van amongst hundreds of thousands? This is Seattle, Cristina, not some small town in Oklahoma. Our best bet is to wait until the cops know something. We're no help to Meredith driving around wasting valuable time!"

Cristina seemed taken back at first, but then she nodded understandingly. "Okay."

"Excuse me sir, are you Doctor Shepherd?"

Derek turned around to face a young cop, who looked no older than a teenager. "Yes, I am. Why? Where's officer Beaumont? What's going on? Did you find my wife?"

The officer twitched and looked around the room. "Um, not exactly. Maybe… possibly… we're not entirely sure, actually."

"What do you mean?" Derek demanded, agitated. Feeling the need to throw his hands over this rookie cop's neck.

"There was a robbery at a gas station," the young man began. "We think the abduction and the kidnapping—I mean the robbery—are related somehow. That partial license plate you gave us matched a plate that the store owner gave us before he…"

"Before he what?" Derek asked, panicked. "Did they kill him?"

The cop nodded. "He was shot."

Cristina gasped, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Oh my God!" Derek ran his fingers through his hair as the idea of his wife being in the hands of murderers with guns made him sick to his stomach.

"Technically this is an open case so I shouldn't have told you as much as I did, but, I thought if I were in your shoes I'd want to know." He gave them a slight smile, as though he had done them some grand favor.

"What are you guys doing about that?"

"We have the whole city on alert, don't worry. This is the best thing that could have happened. Every cop is out there looking for these guys, there's no way they'll get away with it."

Derek was sickened yet again by how amused the man seemed to be. "You'll let me know as soon as you know anything else, right?"

The kid smiled and nodded. "Sure thing, doc."

* * *

And that's all for now. Catch ya next time. :)


	5. Chapter 5

Thanks for the reviews, everyone. I'm glad you all like it. I hope that continues. ;) Anyways, on with the story!

* * *

Oliver, the wounded boy's name, lay in the corner of the van, unconscious. Meredith had stopped the bleeding, at least externally. She didn't want to even think about all the internal injuries he could be suffering. He could slip away at any moment. Unfortunately, his teenage friends didn't seem too worried about that happening as they once again ignored her recommendation to go back to the hospital.

"How'd this happen?" Meredith asked, breaking through the silence that had settled in the van. "Was there some kind of knifing war? Because we got a couple other kids who came into the hospital with similar wounds…"

Wes shrugged, fingering his own pocketknife. "Nonya business."

She nodded, more to herself than anyone else. "So, I think it's time you let me go now. I helped your friend. You'll be a lot safer if you guys let me go."

"Yeah? Why's that?" TJ asked from the front seat. "So you can go tell your cop friends where to find us?"

"My husband is the chief of that hospital you just kidnapped me from. He has every cop out there searching for me. If you let me go, I can call him and the cops deplete to a handful. You'll have a better chance of escape if you let me go right now."

Wes glanced at TJ, worried, but the driver just smirked. "You think we're stupid or somethin'?" The older boy wanted to know. "We let you go and they catch us, you ID us and we go away for life. Nuh-uh, not happenin', sista."

"If you just—"

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" TJ screamed from the front seat, losing any patience he had left. "You have a death wish or somethin'?"

Meredith swallowed, fear evident in her eyes as his voice rose. She looked at Wes, her unblinking gaze made him squirm.

"TJ… come on man… what are ya doin'?"

"What I need to, man." TJ responded, sounding serious and exhausted. "I ain't lettin' anyone send us back to juvy. We ain't goin' back there. They'll kill Oli."

The mention of the younger boy made Wes tense up. He swallowed and glanced back at Meredith. His eyes saying more than his words ever could. She knew in that instant that it would take a miracle for her to get out of here alive.

"How's he holdin' up?" Wes asked, gesturing to his injured friend.

Meredith closed her eyes. "I don't know. I can't know. I did what I could, but for all I know he could be bleeding internally. If—" She didn't finish her sentence as a sound cut her short. A siren.

"Aww, man…! Shit!" TJ cursed, glancing into the review mirror as the red and blue lights flashed into view. "How'd they find us?"

Meredith glanced out the tinted rear window as a police car followed them from a couple feet away. Hope flashed across her eyes. Her freedom was just seconds away, she could feel it. She allowed a small smile to form on the corners of her lips. She would see Derek soon. Everything was going to be okay. She was saved.

"Man, what are we gunna do?"

Tj drummed his fingers against the steering wheel as he cast another glance towards the following vehicle.

Meredith knew he wasn't about to give up. He had made that very clear. Her eyes widened as she realized what his only option was—what he was about to do. The hope inside her was short lasting, like someone who blew up a balloon and let the air out immediately. She wasn't going to get out of here alive. She wasn't going to see Derek or Cristina, or anyone else for that matter again. Her feeling was back. The feeling that told her she wasn't going to live much longer. She swallowed, trying to process everything at once.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." She found herself speaking as TJ began to accelerate. Why was she even talking? It was of no use. She would be dead soon. "Please… just stop the car. It'll be better for everyone."

"Shut up, bitch!" TJ snapped, pushing his foot down to the floor.

The car jerked at the sudden speed, as though it was trying to catch up to the demanded pace, which in the process, sent everyone in the back crashing to the floor. Meredith cried out in pain as the wrist she had tweaked when she was first thrown into the van hit metal. Her head collided with the rear of the car, and for a moment, she thought she would lose consciousness.

"A little warnin' next time, man!" Wes screamed at his partner-in-crime. He looked at Meredith, pulling out his pocketknife as he did, as though he was expecting trouble. "You okay, blondie?"

She swallowed and nodded as she rubbed her hand over her sprained wrist. She was too scared to respond with words. Wes ran his fingers across the blade of his knife, which she knew would soon be across her neck.

"This is the police! Pull your vehicle over immediately!" A voice boomed through a blow horn.

TJ laughed. Apparently he didn't think this whole situation was serious anymore. "Not happenin', brotha!"

Meredith's small frame took a beating at every turn. She tried to steady herself against a wall, but every sudden turn would send her rolling across the floor. It was pointless. She knew by tomorrow she would be covered in bruises. _If I'm alive tomorrow…_

"Watch this!" She heard TJ snicker from the front. That's the last thing she remembers before she was thrown across the van and faded into the world of unconsciousness.

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Ta-da! Whatdaya think? Drop a review and let me know.


	6. Chapter 6

Wow, thanks for the reviews, guys! You're awesome!

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"—_is leading at least a dozen officers on a high-speed chase for the last hour now. The driver has been identified by police as seventeen-year-old TJ Anthony…_"

Derek looked up at the TV as the newscaster continued with her story. On the screen, he watched in terror from a helicopter's camera the high-speed chase that was happening. There were dozens of cops following one lone van. A van he knew all too well.

"That's it!" The doctor screamed, causing Cristina to nearly up out of her seat. "That's the van! That's the van that took Meredith!"

"You sure?" Cristina asked, her words careful.

"Positive!" He wanted to smile in relief, but as the story continued to unfold in front of his eyes, he ran his fingers through his hair in worry. The van had to be going at least eighty, if not ninety or a hundred, miles an hour down the busy streets of Seattle. And his wife was inside.

"_For people just joining us, the seventeen-year-old suspect is wanted for __the murder of a gas station clerk on the corner of 3__rd__ and Downs. The authorities believe he was also involved in a gang knifing from earlier this evening where at least two young men were murdered..."_

Derek held his breath and didn't blink as he watched the black van increase speed and pull onto the freeway.

"_Looks like he's heading north on the freeway now... we're not really sure where he's headed, and it doesn't look like he does either._" The newscaster gasped as the van nearly collided with another vehicle who had pulled into its lane. "_That was a close one!"_

Derek nearly had a heart attack, his eyes widening in disbelief. His wife was in that car.

"_We're now joined by the Chief of Police, Chief Davis of Seattle P.D. Sir, what a chase this guy is giving you guys!_" The newscaster seemed entertained by it all.

"_Well, yes, he is at that. This kid, TJ, is not only putting his own life and the lives of everyone in that vehicle at jeopardy, he's also endangering lives of my officers._"

"_How fast would you say they were going?_"

The chief of police sighed. "_Last radar check we did set them at about one-hundred miles-per-hour._"

"_Oh my God, they're going to have hell to pay when this is all said and done. Now Chief, you mentioned there's more than one identified persons in that van, can you share with us whom you're referring to?_"

Derek held his breath as the chief continued.

"_Yes, we are at liberty to share. That van is also a match for one that was reported in a kidnapping of a doctor from Seattle General Hospital. It is still unclear what the kidnapping, robbery and knifing has to do with one another, but we are certain that the suspect is working with an accomplice on these matters_."

The newscaster appeared shocked. _"Are you allowed to share the abducted doctor's identity?_"

"_Yes, Meredith Gray._"

"Oh my God!" Cristina yelped next to him, as though she didn't believe it until she heard for herself. "Oh my God Mer is in that van!"

The TV screen seemed to be alive as it zoomed in on the high-speed chase once again. The driver was driving fanatically as he steered towards a grassy area to get around the police's roadblocks. The chief of police and newscaster continued to narrate the whole thing, but Derek tuned them out, no longer interested in their words. He could barely breathe, let alone blink. He was utterly helpless. The teenage driver held his wife's life in his hands, a life he obviously wasn't too concerned with.

"Oh my God, what are they doing?"

Derek blinked rapidly, clearing away his tears. He watched in horror as police cars began to lightly tap the back of the van in attempt to slow it down. What were they doing? The van was going at least a hundred-miles-per-hour! They were going to kill someone. They were going to kill his wife.

All of the sudden, with another tap from the police car, the van skid towards the middle island of the freeway. Hitting the concrete barrier, it flipped over it and proceeded to roll across the road a couple times before coming to a crashing halt.

Derek's hands grabbed his head as the realization hit him. His wife was dead.

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I apologize for the shortness of the chapter. I'll try to update sooner than I have to make up for it. :)


	7. Chapter 7

Well, I didn't get my chapter up as quick as I wanted to, so I made it the longest chapter to date. I want to thank you all so much for your reviews. I received more reviews from my last chapter than any previous ones. You guys rock.

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_The silence was peaceful. The whiteness of everything was soothing. The man standing in front of her was heaven sent. The man—her man—held his hand out to her, grasping her own with his. His gray-blue eyes seemed to sparkle and his lips inched up ever so slightly into a smile. Not a curl of his dark brown hair was out of place as he pulled her close to him. She could feel his warmth and smell his scent. Everything was perfect. _

"Open your eyes, Mer_," her man whispered into her ear. _

_She stared at him, confused. As she reached her fingers up to play with his hair, the handsome figure began to disappear. He was fading. She tried to hold onto the nothingness, watching in horror as everything around her faded away. Tears spilled from her wide eyes. She dropped to her knees and cried. Her perfect world was shattering around her. _

_Suddenly, a loud noise echoed through her ears. A constant noise that would not leave her be. It never ended, it only grew louder until…_

Meredith gasped for air as she opened her eyes. It took a moment before she realized she was in a hospital room, and even longer to realize that her man was leaning over her, tears forming in his beautiful eyes.

"Hey," he spoke above a whisper, his voice cracking. "You're awake."

She stared at him, blinking rapidly in attempt to adjust to the sunlight that seeped through her window. "I—" Her throat screamed in protest at its use and she began to cough. Derek handed her a cup of water, to which she drake greedily.

"Don't try to talk just yet," he told her, pushing aside a piece of hair from her face. His tough made her shiver. She had missed it.

She ignored him. "How…?" She couldn't finish. The burning inside was too strong, too intense. She coughed again and took another sip of the cool liquid.

"Shhhh." He smiled slightly, sitting down in the chair beside her bed and scooting it closer. "It's okay. You've had a breathing tube down your throat for five days now, your throat's bound to be a little sore."

Meredith swallowed. Breathing tube? What happened? What else was wrong with her? Before she could even attempt to inspect her body, Derek planted a kiss on her forehead.

"You had me so worried." His voice sounded strained, as though he hadn't slept in a while. "I thought…"

She watched him tear up again. There were so many questions she needed answers to. So much she wanted to tell him. But her body had other ideas. Her eyelids soon became too heavy to hold open, so she shut them for just a second and slipped into the world of the unconscious.

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He had been by her side the whole time, only leaving for bathroom breaks and take a quick shower. Their friends would stop by every couple hours, checking up on both of them, making sure there was nothing else they could do. There never was. All that they could do—all that he could do—was wait. And pray. Pray that Meredith would wake up.

She did.

Earlier that morning the machine that had been breathing life into Meredith was removed; as her body was recovered enough to do the basic functions on its own. A couple hours later she had awaken for a mere few minutes. She hadn't been able to talk, but that didn't matter. He had barely said two words to her anyway.

It was past midnight now; most of the hospital had been sleeping for hours now, but not Derek. He wouldn't let himself succumb to sleep. He needed to be here, awake, for when she woke up again. He needed to keep the nightmares of that night out of his mind…

**Flashback**

"_Meredith!" Derek nearly threw up as the stretcher was lowered out of the ambulance, now in plain view. He rushed to his wife's side. He could barely see her pale skin through the stained, red blood. It took him a second to even comprehend that the woman in front of him was in fact Meredith. "How is she?"_

_The paramedic that was squeezing the tube that brought life into the frail woman glanced over at the nervous doctor. "She was unresponsive when we got to her. We got a pulse, but she's not breathing on her own…"_

_Derek took over the pump as the gurney was quickly wheeled through the hospital. He couldn't breathe. He wasn't even sure where they were taking her. His hands began shaking so badly that Cristina soon pushed him aside and continue pumping air into her best friend's lungs. He tried to follow the team of doctors into a room, but someone pushed him back. His entire body was shaking now. His wife lay on her that bed, seconds away from death. He had to be with her. _

"_Derek, please. Go. Let us do our job."_

_He wasn't even sure who was talking to him. All he knew was he had to see her. He had to see Meredith. He tried for the door, but was yet again pushed away. "My wife is in there!" He shouted, as if no one else knew. "My wife is in there, _dying, _I have to be with her!"_

_The door shut in front of him, and Derek backed up against the closest wall, allowing his body to drop to the floor. He buried his head into his hands. Tears sprung from his eyes. _

_There was nothing he could do. Meredith's life hung in the balance, and there was absolutely nothing he could do… again._

**End of Flashback**

The small, fragile hand inside his shook slightly. Derek looked up to see Meredith's eyelashes flutter open. He smiled, laying her hand aside he leaned closer to her. "Hey."

"Hey." Her voice didn't sound as sore now. Just tired… and weak.

"How are you feeling?"

She swallowed, wetting her throat. "Like you guys are being stingy on the pain meds."

His lips formed into a smile. "Well, I'll see what we can do about that. I am a doctor, after all."

Meredith chuckled slightly, then winced as the pain it caused.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, quickly reaching over and adjusting the morphine levels. "There, that should do it."

"Thanks."

He nodded, rubbing his fingers across her bruised arm. "No problem."

"… how bad is it?" She asked, hesitant."

Derek shrugged. "Not too bad. You had us worried for a while when you refused to breathe on your own, stubborn woman."

"Der…"

"You banged up your head pretty bad. Fractured a couple ribs, completely shred your radius, had some internal bleeding, nothing that can't heal in time." He tried another smile.

Meredith licked her dry lips. "Scars?"

He patted her arm. "Don't worry about it. Scars are sexy." His humor fell flat as she glared at him, wanting the truth. He grimaced slightly and handed her a small mirror.

Her fingers slid across her bandages forehead. She bit her lip.

"The swelling will go down," he assured, referencing to her swollen face. "And the bruises are hardly noticeable at all."

Meredith sat the mirror aside. "How are the boys?"

The very mention of her abductors sent chills through his spine. "TJ walked away without a scratch, he's in jail now. The rest of them didn't make it."

The brunette closed her eyes.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah… it's just… I don't know… they were just trying to save their friend…"

Derek slid his hand under her chin and turned her face towards his. "Mer, they killed someone. They were going to kill you—they almost did."

She gave him a small smile, her eyes watering. "I know…"

He kissed her. "I love you, Mer. I don't know what I would have done if…"

"I know that too." She sniffled. "I love you too. Derek… I was so scared. I—"

"Shhh," he hushed. "It's okay, there's nothing to be scared of now. I'm right here. I'm not going to let you out of my sight."

She smiled again. "I know."

He leaned in for another kiss. "You know what?"

"What?"

"Next time you have a feeling, we're flying to Hawaii, okay?"

She giggled slightly. "Deal."

The end.

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Okay, don't hate me for ending it so. I thought this story was going to be longer. I thought I was going to expand on everything, drag out the angst and drama a bit more, but my fingers and mind had other ideas. I just started writing and next thing I knew it was over. Crazy, huh? I hope you liked it. Please let me know what you think. :)


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